China’s Linux growing steadily

We already know that India has all but settled down with Linux. So does this indicate that China would be next? Some people believe so…

While Linux grew steadily in China last year, the open-source operating system still faces some challenges in the country, according to IDC.

The analyst firm noted in a report that it will take “some time” before the Chinese Linux market is able to grow dramatically. This is due to various factors that hinder market development, including shortage of expertise in the OS and a low acceptance of Linux among the general population.

Notwithstanding, China’s Linux market revenue reached $11.8m in 2005, up 27.1 per cent from 2004. IDC attributed the growth to the huge volume of government procurements, and large-scale SCO Unix replacement efforts by banks and industrial projects in the country.

The Linux desktop market also got a shot in the arm last year thanks to an influx of Linux desktop applications developed by China Standard Software and Red Flag Linux.

Nielse Jiang, IDC China’s analyst for software and services, said in a statement: “In the past, Linux desktops thrived on its low-cost OEM [original equipment manufacturer] value proposition.” But in 2005, the strategy shifted as China Linux vendors identified more ways of enhancing Linux desktops to improve demand and profitability, he added… Source: Silicom.com

[tags]sco,linux,china,red flag linux,market revenue[/tags]